TULSA, Okla. — The United States Department of Education (USDE) awarded Dove Schools $9.2 million to help expand high-quality charter education across Oklahoma.

The district said this is a testament to their high-quality model of rigorous and STEM-based education.

“We are super excited to have this opportunity, and we are looking forward to growing and expanding,” said Assistant Director for Outreach in Finance John Franklin.

He said it’s an honor to be recognized federally.

“The United States Department of Education gave Dove Schools a $9.2 million grant for expansion to our campuses in Tulsa and Oklahoma City,” said Franklin. “It’s what they call a CSP or a charter school program grant.”

The grant was given to eight schools nationwide with Dove being the first school district in Oklahoma to receive the multi-million dollar award.

“We are going to use that to invest in facilities for new classrooms, new teachers and new curriculum,” Franklin said. “We need to have that up first so we can have spots available for kids as soon as possible.”

Franklin said Dove has been serving Oklahoma for 25 years as an option for families looking for something different from their traditional neighborhood schools.

“We are college prep, STEM based, and character education focused, public charter school districts. So, we are a public school, but we’re funded entirely by the state instead of with local funds.,” Franklin said.

The district said this grant will help Dove meet the demands of its fast-growing campuses by supporting increased enrollment.

“For years, Dove has been operating at a waiting list where we had more families that wanted to come here than had an opportunity to because we were full,” Franklin said. “By using this federal money to expand, we are going to be able to open upa that waiting list to more families who want to use Dove as a school for their kids.”

Dove serves over 3,000 students. With this grant, they could have an additional 2,500 students statewide, allowing hundreds of students to get off the waiting list.